TiBette

I work in a clinic setting and it is not physically demanding.

I'm a PNP but I think these would be useful to you as well. I have Epocrates, Skyscape, and Medscape apps on my iphone. The Skyscape app includes Archimedes, OCM, and RxDrugs. These apps were free or very low cost.

If you get accepted, when will you start? It takes several weeks to get the results in the mail. I would go ahead and start studying (if you need to) and sign up. You can't take it too early. Just my opinion. When I went back to school, I took the GRE in the fall because I had to have my application in by January.

Good luck! It's stressful but it's worth it in the long run. You can handle anything for a year. I went to the fall open house and had my application in early so I found out early that I was accepted. How long have you been out of school?

I was a distance student the entire time. I was an RN for 11 years before going back to school. I feel prepared now. I have read on some threads that Vandy grads didn't feel prepared. In my opinion, how you feel depends on your prior experience, which program you're in, what kind of student you are, and how your clinicals go. Attitude goes a long way. If you go into it with a negative attitude and want to be spoonfed because you are paying so much to go there...that's not a recipe for success. If you don't have prior experience, you will have to work harder in clinicals because it will all be new to you. As a distance student, I was responsible for finding my own clinical preceptors. I chose to go to places that I knew would be good learning experiences. If you are in a place where you aren't learning, you should look for another site. I think the family program is more challenging because you are learning adults, peds, and women's health. Sorry, didn't mean to get sidetracked. Good luck to you! When will you find out?

I did it in one intensive distance year. It's tough but doable. I think it was the first year that the director of the PNP program was in that position so there were issues of organization. Maybe the kinks have been worked out. I'm working in a Pediatric Infectious Disease Clinic now and really enjoy it.

I graduated from the PNP program in August, 2007. I was in the primary care track.

I think it depends on where you would like to work as a PNP. There are acute care and primary care tracks for PNP's. I'm a PNP in a specialty clinic now and I've never worked in an ER. A pediatric primary care clinic might be something to consider if you are interested in primary care. Good luck whichever way you go!

I'm not familiar with jcjc so I can't comment directly. I just wanted to wish you luck. Your 4.0 now should look really good!

Did you make it to Open House? What did you think?

I took the CLEP for Growth & Dev about 10 yrs ago and would definitely recommend it.

I'm scheduled to begin in the fall but can't tell you anything yet. Have you applied or are you just thinking about it?

I took the GRE in November and calculators weren't allowed. The books and other materials that I used to prepare stated that you shouldn't waste time doing long calculations. You are supposed to be able to answer the questions without them. For example, if you have a negative number with an odd exponent in one column and the same number with an even exponent in the other column, you would automatically know that the number with the even exponent would be greater....or something along those lines. :)